The Editorial Team |

Can South Africa’s President Be His Country’s Deng Xiaoping?

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – When President Trump tweeted in August that South Africa was engaged in “the large scale killing” of white farmers to seize their land, the nation’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, didn’t respond personally. A fabricated accusation from the leader of the free world was the least of his problems. Ramaphosa probably felt his time was better spent doing his job. These days that includes confronting his top deputies, his fractured party, the powerful labor…

Skye’s Crash Casts Doubt Over Health of Small Nigerian Banks

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The collapse of Skye Bank Plc is darkening the outlook for Nigeria’s other small lenders struggling to recover from the economy’s contraction two years ago, and threatening to derail the regulator’s ambitions of expanding the industry. The Central Bank of Nigeria last week revoked the lender’s license for failing to meet capital and liquidity thresholds since the authorities first intervened to rescue the business in 2016. The Lagos-based company’s battle to…

Momentum Gauge Suggests Next Bitcoin Bull Run On the Horizon

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin bulls are looking at new technical signals in hopes that the cryptocurrency reverses its recent slump and starts pushing higher. Based on an analysis of RIG trend lines, a leading technical indicator that is a combination of the RSI and momentum studies, the momentum gauge crossed the relative strength index (RSI) gauge, which could be indicating a positive price movement is on the horizon. Bitcoin’s price rose the…

Zambia Sees Budget Gap Shrinking Even as It Misses 2018 Target

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LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, plans to trim its budget-deficit next year even after missing its 2018 target. The fiscal shortfall will be 7.4 percent of gross domestic product this year compared with a previous estimate of 6.1 percent, Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe said Friday in her first budget speech since she was appointed in February. In 2019 the gap will narrow to 6.5 percent, she said. The government will spend…

South African Household Spending Contracts First Time Since 2016

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Spending by South African households contracted the first time since 2016 as an increase in value-added tax and higher fuel prices ate into disposable income. Consumption expenditure by households shrank an annualized 1.3 percent in the second quarter from the previous three months, the first contraction since the first three months of 2016, the Pretoria-based South African Reserve Bank said in its quarterly bulletin, citing figures from the statistics…

Nigeria Holds Rate at Record High as Price Pressures Mount

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s central bank held its policy rate at a record high as it sees inflationary pressures increasing. he Monetary Policy Committee kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 14 percent, Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele told reporters on Tuesday in the capital, Abuja. Seven panel members voted to keep policy unchanged and three favored a 25 basis-point increase, he said. The MPC has held rates at the record high since 2016…

Kenya Holds Key Rate at Three-Year Low as Inflation Seen Steady

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s central bank held its benchmark rate at a three-year low as inflation is expected to remain in its target range. The Monetary Policy Committee, which was fully constituted with nine members for the first time in five years, kept the rate at 9 percent, central bank Governor Patrick Njoroge said in a statement emailed Tuesday from the capital, Nairobi. That was in line with all 11 projections in a Bloomberg survey. “Overall…

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